Santiago gets nod as Army's starting QB

WEST POINT — The Army football team will start the 2014 season the way it began 2013, with senior quarterback Angel Santiago under center.

Sal Interdonato

WEST POINT — The Army football team will start the 2014 season the way it began 2013, with senior quarterback Angel Santiago under center.

First-year coach Jeff Monken said on Thursday that Santiago will be the starter when the Black Knights open their season against Buffalo on Sept. 6 at Michie Stadium in West Point.

"Angel has taken all the reps with the 1s (first team)," Monken said after practice. "So it's pretty clear what's going on there.

"He has a lot of games under his belt. He's improved. He's still got a way to go where we feel really good about all the things that he is doing."

Santiago started the first 11 games of 2013 before being replaced by A.J. Schurr for the team's season finale against Navy. Schurr was the team's top quarterback coming out of spring practice, but there wasn't much of a quarterback battle early in preseason as Schurr was sidelined with a hamstring injury.

"With A.J. being out for 2﻿1/2 weeks to start camp, it was really tough," Monken said. "He's coming around. He has to knock the rust off. He hasn't practiced since last spring. He did stuff out here with the guys in the summer, but it's not the same as being out here at practice."

Last preseason, Santiago won the starting job over Schurr, who was banged up. He led Army with 10 rushing touchdowns in 2013. Santiago had a team-high 171 carries, 30 more touches than 1,100-yard rusher Terry Baggett. Santiago was the team's third-leading rusher (598 yards).

Monken said he's seen a more confident Santiago since spring practice. Santiago is making quick decisions running Army's triple-option offense. And when he's thrown the ball, Santiago hasn't made many mistakes.

"Just being the only veteran out there (when Schurr was hurt) probably benefitted him," Monken said. "He knew there was a lot of responsibility there and a lot of it was on him. It was him or it was going to be a true freshman (Ahmad Bradshaw or Kado Brown) and he knows well enough that those guys weren't prepared or ready coming in here. Not that they couldn't get ready."

Schurr, who has played in 10 games his first two seasons, took live snaps for the first time last week. He looks to be getting back to full strength. During Thursday's practice, Schurr was intercepted by linebacker Alex Aukerman in the flat and hustled to the ball, knocking the freshman out of bounds. On his next throw, Schurr completed a perfect deep ball to wide receiver DeAndre Bell down the right sideline.